


Bringer of Shadow, Bringer of Light

by JanuaryBlue



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers Spoilers, Other, Spoilers, Spoilers for the ending of Shadowbringers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-03
Updated: 2019-07-03
Packaged: 2020-06-03 02:39:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19454617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JanuaryBlue/pseuds/JanuaryBlue
Summary: In the end, it was as it had always been. Dark and Light. Always fighting.Spoilers for the ending of the Shadowbringers expansion. The perfect time to read this fic is after you have completed the main story quest "Shadowbringers".





	Bringer of Shadow, Bringer of Light

In the end, he thinks to himself, it is as it had been before. Before the sundering. Once Hydaelyn had been summoned and the fighting began.

As you and your comrades gather aether to set against him – pfah, as though their pitiful energies meant anything – it falls to you to deal the true blow. The killing blow.

You. He knows now, who you are, what you are. How he had longed to deny it – in the beginning, there had been hope, he suspected he might raise you up as he had some of the others, once more restore you to the post you had deserted. The post left vacant in your wake, never to be filled again.

Once again, they would be Fourteen – though whoever Elidbus had raised to become Lahabrea would be naught like the original, unsundered soul – and while not complete yourself, with your remarkable abilities to absorb and contain aether such as with the Lightwardens…

With a power like that, you could have become whole once again. Been Rejoined and returned to your true form, even if your memories were lost. When he’d seen your soul, broken and tattered and straining to contain such an abundance of Light – he had sworn it could not be you, could _not_ be the person he’d known.

The light struggles and struggles against the darkness, blazing bright only to be brought back as the his darkness swells, as His power is called alongside his own, sundered though He may be. Still your power presses on, the light you’d gathered overwhelming – enough to shatter the soul of an Ascian.

On and on and on it swells, burning against the backdrop of ultimate blackness, shining in defiance of the void. And then he knows he is defeated. You had always been the strongest of them.

The light you cast forth pierces him even now; you _had_ managed to master it. All you’d needed was…

Rejoining…

How faraway and distant the idea feels, now.

So he lifts his hands to his hood, pulling it back, tipping his head upwards to bask in the Light, in these last few moments. In these ruins of his home. For once, it doesn’t burn; it almost feels familiar.

“Remember…” He says, staring straight into your eyes; feeling the light of this world’s sun upon his cheek. It’s gentler now, he thinks. Without the Lightwardens behind it.

How he wishes you would remember. You would understand what had happened, who you were, how you would know that he _was not evil, he was not the enemy._ No matter how you had decided, no matter how you had thought Zodiark’s gifts too costly, how you had engaged in the summoning of Hydaelyn…

Regardless of the circumstances, you and he are one and the same; your differences paled into insignificance next to all you had in common. Both of you are doing what you believe in, what you believe is right for this world. For the people who needed you. How could he resent you? You were only trying to save these people.

Save them. They could not even save themselves. They had fought amongst themselves, inflicted cruelty after cruelty, cowardice, sloth, every manner of sin, and yet –

And yet –

_“Would you look at at that that? The citizens of Eulmore engaging in what could only be described as “manual labor.” Who would have thought it possible?”_

That great golem rising up in the air, taking hold of an entire _mountain –_ an impressive sight even to him; it would not have been impossible in his time, but it would not have been without effort, either. No one in his time had attempted such a thing – no one had _needed_ to attempt such a thing – but the ingenuity, the creative spirit and the grandiose nature of it all –

That had only come to pass because of _you,_ of course. It’s shameful. That this world must rely upon an Ascian to save it; they _still_ cannot save themselves. They _still_ do not prove themselves worthy.

If the First needed an Ascian to save it, then by rights it should belong to the Ascians. All your victories in the Source, all the time the Scions and their people had relied upon you, they had relied upon the same progenitor people who summoned forth Zodiark…

…And _Hydaelyn,_ the treacherous voice whispers in his mind. The same voice which he had used to whisper to others; to Vauthry and his father, to Varis, to you, to countless others. 

But he is dying now. There is scant time left. He can see it in your eyes – solemn and filled with endless sympathy and compassion. How had he ever imagined it was not _you?_ You, who had despaired every sacrifice, had fought tooth and nail against losing even a single more soul.

Even now against one of those you had fought so desperately, there is no malice in your eyes. And somehow – even though it’s nothing like back then – somehow it’s just like before. He can tell, he can _feel_ your emotion past the limitations of what your body allows you to express; your grief and anguish is as his own, and it is all he can do to speak again, to stem the tide of this unfathomable despair.

“Remember us…” He says, because you do not remember. This is all he can entreat you with.

He knows it’s cruel. He can _hear_ your heart breaking, echoing through your restored soul and his shattered one. Even without your memories, you will remember them. Remember him. A gladness strikes him; the glamour he placed upon the ruins, his whimsical desire to re-create the people who lived there. Perhaps it had not brought anything back…

But looking into your eyes, he can tell it has brought _something_ forward. You’d wandered the city – the _echo_ of the city – for but the briefest of moments in a _mortal_ lifespan, to say nothing of the time you and him had really lived – you’d spent only a few heartbeats there. And yet just what precious few conversations and interactions you had with those pale shades of his people had been more than enough.

You weep for him, you do; he hears it in your soul. You weep for him and them all; your heart breaks with compassion for the people of the city who had been nothing but kind and helpful to you, who had expected naught of you and entertained you and your seeming frivolity. All while they believed their world was to end in a few days.

All while knowing half of them would be called to sacrifice their lives. And half of them would _do it._

He can tell already, everything you want to say. That’s how powerful your gift is; after fusing your broken parts together, it still reaches out to his, latches onto him unknowingly, baring the fullness of your feelings to his knowledge.

You wished there was another way.

You didn’t want him to die. You didn’t want anyone to die.

You wanted to save everyone.

You wanted to _do something, anything,_ you would do _anything_ to save him and his – if only it meant you didn’t have to _hurt_ anyone –

It really was you. You precious, merciful thing; you who had come up with the idea to create a will for the star in the first place; the ultimate manifestation of the echo, without realizing what it would cost. You who had desperately searched for another way, _any_ other way, even as the end was upon them. It was you, people like you, who had filled Amaurot, who had sacrificed themselves to create Zodiark, and then again to restore their home… and then once more, to create Hydaelyn.

And even now, all he can feel from you is that unending grief. There has to be something you can do, the spark holds out from within you; there has to be _something_ you can do. To make this better. Make this right.

“Remember… that we once lived…”

You do not answer with words; only a nod. No smile on your face; only that characteristic stoic indifference. Like a mask, almost.

He smiles, even as oblivion takes him. As his aether dissipates into true nothingness, scattering beyond his ability to ever reconstitute.

You will remember.

…And when you do…

_“What is your true name, then?”_

You will come back for him.

_“I challenge you, Emet-Selch!”_

You will come back for _all of them._

You will reclaim your heritage once more, and by your judgement, you will see all put to rights.

In his very final moments, he finds his faith put in something besides Him for once. You are Her hero; you have defeated even _him._ Your power, your intellect, your ingenuity; it was impossible to mistake and absolutely overwhelming. You who had brought so many souls together in harmony, in common cause.

Perhaps no Rejoining would ever take place…

But Zodiark, he thinks to himself in that last dying gasp of his aether, blue and bright and swirling into nothingness.

Zodiark was not the _only_ god who had been entrusted with the future of the Ascians.

Your eyes come back to his mind, watching until the very end.

He dies happy. His hope had not been lost. It had only changed hands.

And one day –

**Author's Note:**

> Me: *finished ShBr in literally two days*  
> Me: It's still the 30th and none of my friends can talk about stuff bc of spoilers  
> Me: I know, I'll write fic!  
> Warrior and Prince:  
> And that would not be Enough:  
> Dance of Fools:  
> Me: Gosh I better start a new longfic!! One that's filled with spoilers that no one can read because the expansion is barely out of early access!  
> In case you guys were wondering, this was not the longfic. This was me being absolutely completely desperate to have some kind of closure for the ending, before I start my longfic. Thought some other people would want some as well, especially ones who also completed it in early access and still can't talk about it to people who like... have real lives to deal with XD


End file.
